Anonymous wrote:
don't remember the exact quote, but former Secretary Gates once said that laypeople sometimes have a "cartoonish" view of the military. i think it's true. I for one, have no idea what level of planning, personnel, tools, or on-the-ground intelligence would be necessary to conduct such a rescue operation. Maybe others here do. But I think we can all agree that the last thing you want to do is organize a hasty peration that would overly endanger those being sent in. Reinforcements were sent from Tripoli, right?
Well, here is a clue:
This occurred on Sept 11. That is a significant date. According to the White House release on Sept. 10, plans were in place for contingencies of problems on Sept 11. Obviously, that was not true. Here is another clue: the military's job is to be ready for unexpected events. Combat ready groups are supposed to be able to begin operations to move out immediately. Again, something went dreadfully wrong in this instance. Was there no plan at all in place to evacuate in an emergency? Certainly, there were reasons to anticipate that it might be necessary. Aside from the fact that this was Sept 11, other countries had left their facilities in Benghazi because of problems.
As for the group in Tripoli, it was small and did not get there as soon as it could have. State had rejected an offer by the military to keep a team in place. If you watched the hearings, you would know this.
Yes, it does take a lot of planning--but it is done prior to the event. It may surprise some of you to know that military units train for events such as these That is their purpose.[/quote
+1000. Evacuating to the CIA facility was obviously not the right move as that also came under attack. The nearest base should have had plans for a rescue should the consulate come under attack- why didn't they? The military wanted to go and Hillary and the bureaucrats stopped them. It's a travesty and I feel awful for the families.